The full moon of June, known as the "Strawberry Moon", occurred on 29 June. The Moon reached apogee on 28 June, so this full moon is smaller than average, making it a "micromoon".
The following images were all obtained with an Apertura 60mmED f/6 refractor.
 |
| rising through the trees on Snowshoe Mountain, 10:53 pm |
The next day the same telescope (with a solar wedge) was used to capture an image of the sun.
Asteroid (152637) 1997 NC1 is a near-Earth asteroid that just made a close pass on 27 June. Its closest approach was just under seven times the distance to the moon. Recent data show that it is a peanut-shaped object about 1-km long. Because of high winds and a bright moon, trying to capture an image on the 27th (Saturday) did not seem very appealing. However, last night (28 June) was much calmer and the moon remained hidden behind the flank of Snowshoe Mountain until just after 10 pm.
The lens used was a Rokinon 135mm f/2 mounted on an Olympus E-M5iii camera. The bright moonlight meant that exposures were limited to 5 sec. Two images were obtained, separated by 108 seconds. The movement of the asteroid is easily visible. It was moving about 0.6°/hr.
 |
| Asteroid (152637) 1997 NC1 (circled). 1-deg wide field. |
 |
| Animation of two exposures 108-sec apart. |
The star at the center of the above images is HD 151721 in Scorpius.
Shortly after these images were obtained, the nearly-full Strawberry Moon rose over the southern ridgeline of Snowshoe Mountain.
 |
| Strawberry Moon |
 |
| Antares and the globular cluster M4 in the bright moonlight. 5-sec exposure. |
The fourteenth-closest star system is the double star 61 Cygni. At a distance of 11.4 ly, this pair was nicknamed the "Flying Star" by Giuseppe Piazzi in 1792 because of its high proper motion of about 5 arcsec per year. This was also the first star system to have its distance measured by trigonometric parallax, by Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel in 1838. The two stars, which are separated by 32 arcsec, have magnitudes of 5.2 and 6.0 and a combined magnitude of 4.8. This makes the star technically visible to the naked eye, under dark skies with good eyesight.
I photographed the star Monday night, in the light of the first-quarter moon, using three lenses: Panasonic Leica 25mm f/1.4 (with softon filter), Rokinon 135mm f/2, and Asto-Tech AT80EDT refractor.
 |
| The constellation Cygnus and 61 Cygni (circled). Leica 25mm |
 |
| 61 Cygni resolved with the Rokinon 135mm lens |
 |
| 61 Cygni A + B. AT80EDT refractor |
 |
| The Milky Way core rising over Snowshoe Mtn. Leica 25mm |
The source of the blue sky, the first-quarter moon:
 |
| AT80EDT refractor |
Of the fifteen-nearest star systems, seven — almost half — are double or triple stars. The fifteenth-closest star system is Struve 2398, at a distance of 11.49 ly. It consists of two red-dwarf stars with magnitudes 8.9 and 9.7. Struve 2398 is in the northern sky in the constellation Draco. The image below shows its location relative to the Little Dipper.
 |
| Struve 2398 (circled), the 15th closest star system. |
A Rokinon 135mm f/2 lens provides a closer view:
 |
| Struve 2398 (circled). Rokinon 135mm f/2. North is up. |
Finally, an Astro-Tech AT80EDT 80mm f/6 telescope was used for an even closer view that shows this double star resolved into its two components:
 |
| Struve 2398 (middle). 2x enlargement. |
On the same evening, even though the moon was up, I used the Leica 25mm lens to capture a shot of Scorpius rising over the southern end of Snowshoe Mountain:
On Wednesday evening, 16 June, Mercury was still visible and accompanied by the crescent moon during twilight.
 |
| Mercury (circled) and the Moon. Olympus 40-150mm f/4. |
 |
| Mercury (center) 1:1 crop. Olympus 40-150mm |
Near midnight, long after the moon had set, I imaged the Milky Way with an OM 20mm f/1.4 lens.
 |
| 3x3 median digital filter |
 |
| Summer Triangle, 3x3 median digital filter |
These are the same two scenes with a physical Hoya Sparkle-6 filter:
A more southerly view:
Yesterday at 12:52 pm MDT the waxing crescent Moon passed in front of the planet Venus. The event was visible in full daylight. I set up a 360mm f/6 scope on a ZWO AM3 mount and used the go-to function to find the Moon and Venus in the bright blue sky.
| Venus moments before occultation |
 |
| Occultation begins |
Later that evening the crescent Moon and Venus neatly framed the Beehive Cluster (M44) over Bristol Head:
 |
| The Moon, M44, and Venus |
Mercury reached its furthest elongation from the Sun yesterday. Even so, it is a difficult planet to catch from this location between two mountain ridges. There is only a short time between when it becomes dark enough to see Mercury and when it slips behind the mountain. Last night this was at 9 pm.
 |
| Venus (top), Jupiter (middle), and Mercury (bottom) |
These are two views, enlarged 2x, of Mercury dipping into the treeline:
Near midnight on the same evening the sky brightness was measured at sqml=21.68 mpsas, a very good value. The Milky Way was well positioned for photographs.
 |
| Sony A7iii + Laowa 15mm f/2 |
